Please Note: Players will temporarily be able to ride the Festive Treasure Goblin whenever they wish during the 2016 Winter Veil event, but must complete the Winter Veil Quest in order to add the Mount to their collections permanently.

New Hero: Ragnaros

As the lord of Azeroth’s fire elementals, Ragnaros desires nothing more than to burn the world to ash. Banished to the Firelands eons ago, the Firelord now turns his rage toward the Nexus, intent on incinerating everything and everyone within it.

Trait

Molten Core (D)

Channel on an Allied or destroyed Fort or Keep to replace it with Ragnaros’ Ultimate Form, temporarily gaining new Abilities, and a significant amount of Health that burns away over 18 seconds.

Ragnaros returns to his normal form upon losing all Health during Molten Core.

Basic Abilities

Empower Sulfuras (Q)

Ragnaros’ next Basic Attack is instant, dealing Ability Damage in an area around the target, and Healing Ragnaros for 20% of the damage dealt. Healing is doubled for damage dealt to Heroes.

Living Meteor (W)

Summon a meteor at the target point that deals damage on impact, and then rolls in the target direction and deals additional damage every second for 1.75 seconds.

Summon 3 meteors at the target point that fall in the target direction. Each meteor deals damage and slows enemies by 25% for 2 seconds. Damage increased by 25% versus Minions and Mercenaries.

Explosive Rune (E)

Create a rune that explodes after 1.5 seconds, dealing damage to non-Structure enemies in a circular area. Damage increased by 25% versus Minions and Mercenaries.

Heroic Abilities

Sulfuras Smash (R)

Hurl Sulfuras at the target area, landing after 0.75 seconds and dealing damage to enemies hit. Enemies caught in the center of the impact area take triple damage and are Stunned for 0.5 seconds.

Lava Wave (R)

Release a wave of lava from the allied Core that travels down the target lane, dealing massive damage every second to non-Structure enemies and instantly killing enemy Minions in its path. Damage doubled versus enemy Heroes.

Battleground Rework: Haunted Mines

After driving the Raven Lord out of the Haunted Mines and doing a little. . . redecorating. . . the Grave Keeper has re-opened the Mines to all who wish to summon powerful and destructive Grave Golems.

Haunted Mines Basics

Venture Underground

The Haunted Mines will periodically open with an Undead Army underneath.

Collect the Skulls

Destroy the Undead and collect their Skulls to summon a powerful Golem. The more Skulls each team collects, the stronger their Golems become.

Unleash the Golems

After the Undead have been defeated, a Golem will rise for each team and travel down lane in search of Structures to destroy.

Haunted Mines Updates

Grave Golems now spawn in fixed positions in each lane, and switch lanes each time they are summoned.

The layout of the Underground Mines has been reworked, and the Neutral Grave Golem can now be found at its center.

The upper level’s center area has been reworked.

Additional Mine Entrances have been placed to the East and West of the Battleground’s center area, for a total of 4.

A Mercenary Camp has been placed near each Mine Entrance, featuring Siege Giants at the East and West Entrances, and Sappers in the North and South.

Battlegrounds

Healing Fountains will now be Invulnerable when these Brawls next return to the Nexus

Braxis Holdout

Zerg Rush

Initial Zergling spawn increased from 3 to 6 Zerglings

Warhead Junction

Warheads

Base damage reduced from 2750 to 2300.

Warhead damage now scales by a flat 70 every minute, and no longer has a large jump at 18 minutes.

Inner Warhead damage is still a 50% bonus.

Developer Comments: We didn’t like the gameplay of holding off on using a Warhead for a sudden unintuitive damage spike, so we’ve smoothed out their damage curve over a longer period. This should end up playing mostly the same across the game, with only about 10% differences in damage at various points in the match.

Assassin

Chromie

You can now also activate this Talent to reveal an area for 2 seconds. Enemies seen are revealed for 4 seconds.

Peer Into the Future (Active)

Removed

Developer Comments: We’re looking to add more power to Chromie that fits the flavor of the character, without increasing her burst potential across the entirety of the game. We’re also combining the effects of Timewalker’s Pursuit and Peer Into the Future to create an enticing option at Level 1.

Kael'thas

Abilities

Pyroblast (R)

​Cast time reduced from 2 to 1.5 seconds

Cast range increased by roughly 30%

Developer Comments: Pyroblast has been underperforming compared to Phoenix. We like where its damage is at, and that a lot of Heroes have ways to negate or mitigate it. Instead, we’re buffing the consistency of the Heroic to make it more competitive.

Rehgar

All affected allies now heal for 30% of Basic Attack damage dealt during Bloodlust

Talents

Level 4

Stormcaller (W)

Now returns Mana from hitting all enemies, not just Heroes

Level 7

Totemic Projection (E)

Added Functionality:

Now also increases the duration of Earthbind Totem from 8 to 12 seconds

Level 20

Farseer's Blessing (R)

Secondary healing effect increased from 25% to 50% of Ancestral Healing’s full amount

Gladiator's War Shout (R)

Now increases Bloodlust healing from 30% to 60% of Basic Attack damage

Developer Comments: It’s been a while since Rehgar was a major dominant force, and his performance is now low enough that we can safely increase the rewards for his aggressive playstyle without pushing his winrate too high. For Bloodlust, we wanted to reduce the loss of healing for picking the Heroic, but only for Basic Attack teams that really benefit from it.

Warrior

Artanis

Now reduces the cooldown of Shield Overload by 1 second per enemy hit, and 2 seconds per Hero hit.​

Twin Blades (W)

Charge range is now checked against the edge of target units, instead of their center. This increases the effective range of Twin Blades and should generally create more consistent behavior.

Phase Prism (E)

​Added functionality:

You can now cast Phase Prism during Blade Dash

Cooldown increased from 14 to 16 seconds

Shield Overload (Trait)​

Cooldown increased from 20 to 24 seconds

Activation threshold increased from 50 to 75% Health

Shield value reduced from 449 to 360

Talents

Level 4​

Shield Surge (Trait)

Moved from Level 16

New functionality:

Shield Overload's shield amount is increased by 80% while you are below 25% Health

Lethal Alacrity (Q)

Removed

Shield Battery (Trait)

Redesigned:

Shield Overload's cooldown recharges 50% faster while its shield is active, and increases the duration of Shield Overload from 5 to 6 seconds

Psionic Synergy (Q)

Moved from Level 7

Now increases the cooldown reduction of hitting Heroes with Blade Dash from 2 to 4 seconds

Level 7

Chrono Surge (E)

Moved from Level 4

Attack Speed bonus increased from 40 to 50%

Level 13​

Templar's Zeal (Q)

Moved from Level 4

Phase Bulwark (Trait)

Ability damage mitigation reduced from 50 to 40%

Level 16​

Burning Rage (Passive)

Moved from Level 13

Replaced with Plasma Burn (Trait):

While your Shield is active, you deal 50 damage a second to nearby enemies

Developer Comments: The goals with this Artanis update were twofold: Increase his playmaking (swapping enemies during Blade Dash), and increase his solo lane capabilities (Blade Dash reduces Shield Overload cooldown, Shield Overload triggers at higher Health). We think that with these changes, Artanis will be a strong choice on a lot more Battlegrounds and with more team compositions.

Dehaka

Dehaka gains 15% Movement Speed while in a Bush and for 1 second after exiting a Bush

Essence Collection (Trait) (D)

Essence Collection will now be placed on a 5 second cooldown after activation

Burrow (E)

Functionality added:

Burrow can now be cancelled early by pressing the hotkey again

Adaptation (R)

Heal amount increased from 60 to 100% of incoming damage

Talents

Level 1

Enduring Swarm (W)

New functionality:

Dehaka takes 40% less damage from Abilities while Dark Swarm is active

Enhanced Agility (Trait)

New functionality:

Quest: For every 50 Essence you collect, increase your Brushstalker Movement Speed bonus by 1%. This can stack 10 times.

Level 4

Lurker Strain (E)

Functionality added:

Emerging from Burrow knocks away enemies and slows their Movement Speed by 30% for 2 seconds

Numbing Eruption (E)

Removed

Hero Stalker (Trait)

​Bonus Essence gained from takedowns reduced from 150 to 100%

Level 13

Swift Pursuit (Z)

New Functionality:

Brushstalker’s Movement Speed duration after leaving a Bush is increased from 1 to 3 seconds

Ferocious Stalker (Z)

New Functionality:

After using Brushstalker, increase all damage Dehaka deals by 25% for 10 seconds

Whirling Dervish (W)

Removed

New Talent: Primal Swarm (W)

Enemies affected by Dark Swarm take 15% increased damage from all sources

Level 16

Rapid Regeneration (E)

Removed

New Talent: Tunneling Claws (E)

Dehaka can now move while Burrowed

Level 20

Change is Survival (R)

Heal amount increased from 125 to 200% of incoming damage

Hardened Shield (Active)

Removed

New Talent: Essence Claws (Passive)

Basic Attacks slow enemies by 20% for 1 second

Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes grant Dehaka 5 Essence

Developer Comments: We started doing some small changes to Dehaka’s talent tree in order to increase diversity and fix some talent pick issues. As is par for the course, this opened a rabbit-hole of design opportunities that we ended up falling into. While Dehaka’s changes were mostly complete before the BlizzCon Finals, his resurgence as a dark horse of competitive play helped us narrow down and finalize the rework. Base movement speed on Brushstalker helps meld his design while some brand new talents should open up some fun new ways to hunt your prey.

Diablo

If Diablo’s target collides with terrain they take an additional 150 damage

Fire Stomp (W)

Base damage from 106 to 60

Added Functionality:

Fire Stomp fireballs return to Diablo, dealing 90 damage

Black Soulstone (Trait)

Bonus max Health per Soulstone stack from .2 to .4%

Talents

Level 1

Block (Passive)

Removed

Devil’s Due (Passive)

New functionality:

Regeneration Globes and Healing Fountains are 2% more effective for every stack of Black Soulstone

Overwhelming Force (Q)

Removed

New Talent: Bulwark (Q)

Increase the duration of Shadow Charge’s Resistance effect from 2 to 5 seconds

Life Leech (Passive)

Moved from Level 13

Level 4

Demonic Strength (E)

Slow duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds

Slow amount increased from 25 to 30%

Soul Catcher (Passive)

Removed

Essence of the Slain (Passive)

Removed

New Talent: Speed Demon (Passive)

Diablo gains 30% Movement Speed for 5 seconds after being Stunned or Rooted

From the Shadows (Q)

Moved from Level 7

Functionality added:

Also increases Shadow Charge range by 33%

Level 7

Diabolical Momentum (Q)

Functionality changed:

Basic Attacks lower the cooldown of Shadow Charge and Overpower by 1.5 seconds

Soul Steal (Passive)

Removed

Devastating Charge (Q)

Moved from Level 7 to Level 13

Functionality changed:

Shadow Charging an enemy into unpathable terrain deals an additional 5% of that targets max Health in damage

Quest: Every time you charge an enemy into unpathable terrain, increase the bonus damage by 2%, stacking up to a 10% bonus (15% max health possible)

New Talent: Soul Shield (Trait)

Each Black Soulstone stack Diablo has grants him 0.35% Resistance to enemy Abilities

Soul Feast (Passive)

Moved from Level 1

New functionality:

Each Soulstone stack grants 0.4 Health Regeneration per second

Level 13

Firestorm (W)

Removed

Spell Shield (Passive)

Removed

Siphon the Dead (Active)

Removed

Hellfire (W)

Each enemy Hero hit by Fire Stomp increases the damage of the next Fire Stomp by 10%, stacking up to 100%.

Fire Devil (W)

Moved from Level 4

Aura damage increased from 17 to 22

Added functionality:

Also increases Diablo’s Basic Attack damage by 25% for 6 seconds

Level 16

Rampage (W)

Removed

Continuous Overpower (E)

Removed

Domination (E)

New Functionality:

Lower the Cooldown of Overpower by 4 seconds

Using Overpower refreshes the Cooldown of Shadow Charge

Imposing Presence (Passive)

Removed

New Talent: Fearful Presence (Passive/Active)

Passive: Heroes and Summons that attack Diablo have their Attack Speed slowed by 20% for 2.5 seconds

Active: Activate to reduce the damage dealt by nearby Heroes by 30% for 3 seconds

Level 20

Bolt of the Storm (Active)

Removed

New Talent: Hellgate (Active)

Activate to teleport a short distance and place a Demonic Rune at that location. After 1.75 seconds the rune explodes dealing 137 damage and stuns enemies for 1.75 seconds

Developer Comments: The Lord of Terror has been under the knife for a couple months and has finally collected enough souls to resurrect himself. He reenters the Nexus with an updated talent tree focusing on maintaining and amplifying his identity. He should still excel as a gank-oriented Warrior, punishing out-of-position enemies, but also brings along some new survivability options. While we had to lower his damage slightly, the baseline addition of Firestorm and larger payoff for Shadow Charging enemies into collision should heavily reward opportunistic Diablo players.

Zarya

Abilities

Particle Grenade (Q)

This ability has received improvements to its cast animation

The time between casting Particle Grenade and performing another action has been reduced by .25 seconds

Developer Comments: Casting Zarya’s Particle Grenade would force her to be locked in place for a short period of time. We don’t do this on other Heroes, and we felt like this exception broke the fluidity of the character.